Dan and Pris Gollan

What do you call what is happening in Kiev right now?  Hundreds of thousands of protestors have taken to the streets to protest the government’s decision to pull back from closer ties with Europe in favour of closer ties with Russia.  It is estimated that thousands of protestors are still “on the streets” of Kiev – camped out or sleeping in churches or public buildings that they have taken over. 

I know of a couple of people who have gone to join the protestors.  The going “wage” is from $20-30 a day… it depends on who you “join up with” and if you want the money.  Amazing country, yeah?  I was talking with a local businessman today who said that he will be going in tomorrow, (Sunday).  The hope is that 1,000,000 people will turn out.  The other hope is that Yanukovich, the president, will resign… but this hope is generally held to be wildly optimistic.  I think that most people taking part don’t really expect anything to change. 

Russia has had a lot of influence over Ukraine throughout her history.  During the last 20 years, I’ve seen Ukraine waver between sidling up to Russia one day, only to run to Europe the next.  There are certainly a lot of people here who haven’t forgotten Russia’s repression of Ukrainians during the last 100 years in particular.  It doesn’t help the situation that Russia is struggling economically while the Eastern European countries have seen enormous growth during the last 10 years. 

Much has been made of a decision by the riot police to retaliate last Saturday against a group who were protesting.  Strangely enough, a number of journalists were also made to suffer.  (Someone forgot to teach that the media has long sharp teeth when attacked!)

Saturday afternoon we got to spend some time with Vlad.  He’s doing great and of course was glad to see us after so many months of not being given permission to do so apart from through a glass partition and even then - only family members.

It was somewhat surreal driving up and seeing him waiting on the road for us outside the complex.  The building he works in is visible behind him and Matvey in the picture.  He is part of a 30-man crew which makes plastic cups 12 hours a day right now.  We met in the building to the right of Matvey and warmed ourselves by standing around in the small kitchen area where Vlad served us coffee that we’d brought with us – cooking it up on the electric stove.

He called yesterday morning and asked if we could find him an mp3 player to listed to songs/sermons on as they have a “lights-out” policy and are often just lying there of an evening with nothing to do.

He has hopes of being moved closer to make it easier for his family and friends to visit and says that theoretically, this could happen within a month of the wheels being set in motion following an “incentive” in the right place.

Shane has just organized a weekend away at a campsite the ladies went to a few weeks ago… but this time for the lads.  It was a great time and in spite of only a handful of students coming out, I didn’t feel it was wasted.  The attraction was “Paintballing”.  I must say that I enjoyed just hanging out with Wayne and Ura and the other guys from the Kaharlyk church as well as the lot from our town.  Several guys shared their “stories” of how they came to Christ and what He means to them… I didn’t notice anyone nodding off!  Jesse was one of those who shared and it was something special to hear.  He has translated many a time before but this was the first time he’s spoken to a group like this in Ukrainian.

The other wonderful thing about the trip was that we all fit into three vehicles on the way up and those three vehicles kept on working and avoided accidents.  I’m always thankful for that.

We’ve gone through some interesting weeks  in the life of the church the last month.  Some have left, others have come and yet others have stayed.  The reasons for both leaving and coming and staying have been both encouraging as well as caused us to examine ourselves.  It seems like many are beginning to be more desirous of “doing something for God” and serving in some capacity in the church or community. 

Pris continues to get treatment on her back and feels better than she has in ages.  Tonight she said that she feels like something has majorly changed in her neck.  Grateful!

Our two youngest intrepid cyclists have recovered well from their major falls and we’re no less grateful for that!